Vanilla Bean Cheesecake & Winners Announced

by Jamie on August 3, 2009

If you follow my blog, you may remember that I have a thing for cheesecake. It’ s textural thing for me. The thick and creamy filling and crunchy, buttery crust is just a magical combination. Since I was announcing the givewaway winners in this post, I wanted to provide you with another recipe that utilizes vanilla beans.

I made an orange version of this cheesecake back in April for the Daring Bakers Challenge and the results were absolutely delicious. This recipe uses heavy cream in the cheesecake base which imparts a fluffier texture than my other recipe that uses sour cream. The added Beanilla vanilla bean takes the cheesecake into the realm of pure foodie bliss due to it’s amazing taste, aroma and gorgeous black flecks.

If you are looking for an amazing cheesecake, look no further and give this one a try! I topped this with a homemade blueberry sauce.

Congratulations, Smitten Sugar & Megan!!!! I want to personally thank Beanilla for providing this awesome giveaway and also thanks to each and every one of you for entering and tweeting! I was so impressed with all of your recipes and comments that I am going to try a few out and post them on my blog. If I choose your recipe recommendation, I will send you 5 Beanilla Vanilla Beans, so stay tuned for the recipes!

Remember, even if you didn’t win, you can still save 10% at Beanilla’s website by entering the code “bakingaddiction” at checkout. Check out the site, I am certain you will be surprised how affordable these amazing beans are in comparison to grocery store beans!

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (Gas Mark 4 /180°C). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too – baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and alcohol (if used) and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done – this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Notes:

When I make cheesecakes I always try to use a waterbath; however, I have had issues with water seeping into my foil wrapped pan. This seepage has really pissed me off on a couple of occasions, so I decided to remedy the issue by placing the foil wrapped cheesecake pan in an oven bag before placing it into the water. I have also used crock pot liners and they worked just as well. I also let the cheesecake completely cool in the oven, this really seems to help with the cracks - in fact I have not gotten a crack since.

Gorgeous cheesecake! I got a tip from watching the Food Network one day. Instead of doing the water bath, you can take a glass 9×13 pan and fill it halfway with boiling water — place it in the oven underneath the cheesecake pan. It prevents cracks but you don't have to worry about a soggy cheesecake!

I guess I’m a bit late discovering this recipe, but after our Coconut Cheesecake failure from yesterday my son has requested a Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. This one looks to fit the bill! It’s prepped and ready for the oven…. looks like a success tonight!
Thanks for the recipe!

I made this yesterday and ate some today. Delicious!!! It was my first time using vanilla beans. It really does make a difference to use the real thing versus vanilla extract….so worth it! Great recipe!

A great way to keep your cheesecake dry is to avoid spring-form pans. I was taught to use a normal pan lined with parchment paper, bake it (as you do in a water bath), freeze it and flip it out. Once it comes back to fridge temp or room temp, it’s perfect (freezing actually makes it easier to preslice too!)

Hi, can I just double this recipe if I were to make this cheesecake in large batches? I was thinking of making this cheesecake in a jar, and I am making around 24 jars of cheesecakes.. so can I make double the recipe?
Also, should there be any changes made for the oven temp & time for baking in tiny jars?
Thanks!

Hi May,
I don’t think there would be a problem doubling the recipe. I haven’t done it, but I can’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work. As for baking in jars, I would leave the temperatures the same, but your cook time would probably be a LOT less. I would start with about 20 minutes, and check them. Good luck!
-Jamie

I made this cheesecake for a potluck thanksgiving at my boyfriends parents house and it was loved by everyone. The first trial run I noticed the base was slightly soggy (although I used a baking bag and am sure no water seeped through) and so for the final run I decided to put the graham cracker base in for 10 min prior to baking the entire cheesecake and the cheesecake was DELICIOUS. This recipe is to die for and everyone was surprised I made it at home. Bake it exactly without modifying any ingredients and you won’t be disappointed.